2019 Classic Rock Super Bowl Commercials

Super Bowl Sunday commercials remain a big draw, no matter which team is playing in the big game. After all, 30 other fan bases have to have some other reason to watch, right? Sensing an opportunity, advertisers often save their most inventive spots for this annual bacchanal of football, family and junk food. And they often leverage rock 'n' roll to complete their sales pitches. This year is no different, with musical appearances by the likes of Queen, Bob Dylan (twice!) and Motley Crue, among others. Here's a rundown.

The Who

Toyota wants you to know that the Supra is back so badly that they built a pinball machine big enough for their sporty new car to race around in. They didn't skip on the soundtrack either, ponying up for the Who's 1969 anthem "Pinball Wizard."

Queen

Queen are getting to be old hands at this. "Don't Stop Me Now" is featured in a new spot for Amazon highlighting a fictitious Alexa beta-testing program. Hilarity ensues, with Harrison Ford playing a key role. Fans will recall that Queen's "We Will Rock You" was used in a Super Bowl commercial for Dodge trucks last year.

Motley Crue

Motley Crue also power a new commercial for Planter's. (They hinted at this new association with social-media posts featuring a peanut emoji.) The company's monocled mascot is seen speeding in the Planters van as "Kickstart My Heart" starts. Charlie Sheen and Alex Rodriguez star. A disclaimer later reads, "Don't drive like a nut."

Bob Dylan

Jeff Bridges and Sarah Jessica Parker return to career-defining roles for a new commercial for Stella Artois. Each is known for drinking something else, so much calamity follows in the ad, which is called "Change Up the Usual." One of the featured songs is Dylan's "The Man In Me," which was originally found on his 1970 album New Morning.

Dylan is likewise featured in Budweiser's 2019 Super Bowl commercial, which makes use of the classic "Blowin' in the Wind" to send a message. This ad highlights the beer maker's commitment to environmentally friendly processes; Budweiser now claims to use "100 percent renewable electricity from wind power."

Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" is included in a new Audi commercial with a near-death theme. Titled "Cashew," it finds our protagonist dreaming of a car-maker's e-tron GT electric car – only to be awakened by a co-working performing the life-saving Heimlich Maneuver. "Spirit in the Sky" was a gold-selling No. 3 hit with in 1969.

War

The lyrics of War's 1975 anthem "Why Can't We Be Friends?" are used to humorously address the dislike and distrust the two main characters of Hobbs & Shaw feel for each other in the film's first trailer. Here's hoping Dwayne Johnson's hulking federal agent Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham's dashing mercenary Deckard Shaw can put aside their Fast & Furious differences long enough to save the world one more time.

Poison

Poison's celebratory 1988 Top 10 hit "Nothin' But a Good Time" turns up briefly in the Super Bowl trailer for Wonder Park, an animated film about a young girl who finds out that the amusement park she conjured in her imagination as a child is real - and in danger.

Gary Numan

In Walmart's presumably ridiculously expensive ad for its new on-line order and pickup service, famous cars from movies and TV shows such as Batman, Transformers, Ghostbusters and Knight Rider crowd a store's parking lot to pick up their groceries. So naturally, Gary Numan's pioneering 1979 synth-rock anthem "Cars" provides the soundtrack.